Middle East News

Death toll in Alexandria building collapse reaches 35

Dec 30, 2007, 14:01 GMT

Cairo - Rescue workers pulled a total of 35 bodies from the rubble of a 12-storey building that collapsed in Egypt's Mediterranean port city of Alexandria a week earlier, security sources said Sunday.

The rescue work on the search site was stopped on Sunday, the local authorities said after announcing the total death toll. Only three survivors were rescued from the rubble during the past week.

The authorities had previously ordered the building to be torn down or restored because it was built without authorization.

The building, in the city's Loran district, had seven stories when it was built in 1978, but five more were recently added.

The district attorney meanwhile had ordered the arrest of the building's owner and of the civil engineer and contractor in charge of the restoration work.

Building collapses, which are quite frequent in Egypt, usually happen because of violations of construction codes, poor maintenance and unauthorized additions which weaken the structures.